Electric machines can be provided with a multi-channel design. This multi-channel design permits a plurality of motor/alternators to exist within the same stator, and which may either be operated conjunctively, or preferably independently if of the general type described in applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 6,965,183, as desired. For example, in normal machine operation as a generator, the outputs of the winding sets may be combined to provide a single output, but in the event of a fault which requires one winding set (i.e. one generator channel) to be shut down, the remaining winding set(s) may continue operation unaffected. This feature thus permits more than one motor/generator to exist within the same machine, thereby providing redundancy which may very valuable in applications where a complete shutdown would be highly undesirable.
It is still desirable to improve the controllability and effectiveness of such electric machines, generally, and in particular permanent magnet (PM) machines having an independent multi-channel architecture.